It's For Me

I don’t like being first when joining a party or picking up on the latest trend, yet I try to stay current with the latest technology.  However, I may be one of the last ones to have been part of a videophone call. I guess it seemed unnecessary and perhaps a little too invasive. I don’t mind talking on the phone, but I would rather not have to answer for my private wardrobe and grooming choices.

My kids have tried to engage me in video conversing on the computer – but it seems awkward. I never know where I should be looking or if I’m talking loud enough (or too loud).

This week my friend, Tim, called me from trend-setting California. Initially, I thought I had screwed up my phone as the screen was showing me answering the phone. Not exactly newsworthy, but that’s not what I expected from my phone when answering a call. All of a sudden there was Tim sitting in his truck driving down the L.A. freeway talking to me on the phone and occasionally turning it to show me the traffic on the other side of the windshield.

At first I was taken aback and started to consider how I looked and such, but then I remembered I was at work and if I didn’t care before why should it matter now. Of course, I was talking too loud, so I thought perhaps I should go explain to Kathy what all the fuss was about. I walked over to her desk and showed her what I was doing. This created an awkward situation by having her say “Hello,” to Tim and him to her. I learned later that this technology was not new to her –she had already done this before. It was like asking her if she knew who Britney Spears is.

As we progress to this full frontal phone full time, there will be no more asking, “Who’s this? I can’t recall the name, but the face rings a bell.”  When I was younger and my dad would call home he could never tell if it was my older sister or my mom on the other end of the line. I have a similar problem discerning my daughter’s voice from my wife’s – but the videophone will save me from embarrassing myself in the future. Maybe.

There will be no hiding the body language. Your annoyance and anger will be front and center for all to see.  Working a crossword puzzle while listening to the other person prattle on will no longer be acceptable.

There doesn’t seem to be any going back though. Eventually, we’ll be like George and Jane Jetson talking to our video monitor. Someday I will tell my grandchildren that I remember rotary phones (one per household), and dialing (really dialing) just four numbers (4416, 2747) to call my friends. My wife, Rhonda, remembers having multiple families share a line and having to take turns when using the phone. In that case, you wanted to be the first on the party line.